The present invention relates to an energy storage arrangement in particular for a motor vehicle.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
High-performance energy storage arrangements for electrically driven motor vehicles have recently become the focus of development efforts in the automobile industry. In a typical construction of such storage arrangements a defined number of energy storage cells are for example connected parallel to each other via busbars in order to achieve an addition of their storage capacity. Multiple of these parallel-connected energy storage cells are then connected in series for generating the desired output voltage.
The energy storage cells used therefore are each closed units in which the actual energy storage, including a type-dependent arrangement of a positive and a negative electrode, is received in a housing of the energy storage cell. In the energy storage cell an electrically conductive inner contact with the housing of the energy storage cell and a further inner contact with a terminal connection of the energy storage cell are provided. When connecting two energy storage cells in parallel with each other their energy storages are thus connected via their inner contacts and outer contacts that are required for the connecting together between the busbars and the housings of the energy storage cells or the terminal connections.
Each of these electrical contacts however has an electrical resistance at which a electrical voltage drops. The losses generated thereby are significant. In addition the high number of contacts requires increased space and increases the complexity of the manufacturing process. The risks of errors and costs associated therewith eventually lead to significant loss of efficiency during operation of conventional energy storage arrangements.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved energy storage arrangement